Top 10 things I learned over President's Day Weekend

10.  Potty training is my least favorite parenting job.  After 3 very frustrating days, I officially hate it.

9.  Noah has discovered eating dog food and thinks it is delicious.  Awesome.

8.  Noah has also discovered that splashing in the dog's water bowl is "fun."

7.  I really hate de-cluttering and organizing closets, basement, junk drawers, etc.  I have many strengths in life, but cleaning and organizing is NOT one of them.

6. My almost 11 month old baby Noah has learned to climb the steps and climbed all 25 steps in one shot.  I fear that he is not really a baby any more but quickly becoming a toddler. Yikes!

5.  Did I mention how much I despise potty training?

4.  Mother Nature is teasing us with the dusting of snow this weekend and my kids aren't going to be able to actually play in snow at all this year!

3.  Waking Sam up to watch the snow fall and come outside to let the snow fall on his head was one of the best mommy decisions I have made in a while.  The snow began about 5 minutes after I put him to bed, so I woke him up so we could enjoy the snow together.

2.  Potty training really sucks.  Being an adult is hard sometimes.

1.  We are in desperate need of a vacation.  Good thing we have one coming up WITHOUT THE KIDS! It will be my first time away from Noah overnight.  I.AM.READY.

In addition to the frustrations of cleaning and potty training, we did have some sweet times at home with the boys.  It's not often that we basically stay home for 3 days in a row!  Here are some videos of Noah learning to conquer the steps and the boys being silly.

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY!

2011 Memories: Video Slideshow of Geller-Cheney Family

Happy New Year! We hope that you enjoy this video slideshow that chronicles the many adventures of our family during 2011.  

You can watch the video HERE (dare you not to cry!) 

Overview of 2011

2011 has been another wonderful year in the Geller-Cheney home.  On March 26, 2011, we welcomed Noah Daniel Geller-Cheney into our family.  Over the past 9 months, we have fallen in love with Noah's sunny disposition, full belly laughs, adventurous nature, easygoing personality, and affinity for cuddling.  Noah adores his big brother Sam, despite Sam's sometimes not-so gentle hugs.  The boys frequently read books together, sing songs, attempt to share toys, and take turns waking us up early in the morning.

Sam has adjusted quite well to his role as big brother and is a wonderful helper, when he is not getting into mischief.  Sam will turn 3 in March and is full of personality.  He speaks in full sentences and is quite the social butterfly.  He loves his music class, swimming in the pool, cooking in his toy kitchen, dancing, riding his tricycle, painting on his easel, playing on our new swingset, jumping in puddles, and loves any toy that has a wheel (trucks, cars, buses, trains, etc).  Both Sam and Noah thoroughly enjoy harassing our wonderful dog Lucy, who is in denial that we have brought another child into our home, which is now completely full of toys!

With two young children, our travels have slowed significantly.  However, we have enjoyed trips this year to Kiawah Island, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Boston, Nashville, Chicago, and Lake Tahoe.  Brad continues to enjoy his job as the Director of Legislative Affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association.  Rebecca has left her law firm and launched her own consulting company to help small businesses develop (please visit her website www.silverbrooksolutions.com to learn more about her new business venture).  Between work, kids, and volunteering in the community, we lead a happy and busy life!

We hope that you have  a happy new year!

                              

Hanukkah 2011

We had a wonderful time celebrating the 8 nights of Hanukkah with our families and friends.  Between the many holiday parties and gatherings, it was a busy week!  The boys had a great time lighting the menorah, making Hanukkah cookies, playing dreidle, and of course - receiving presents (although we worked hard on buying very few gifts this year). 

Mixing the cookie dough with Pa & Mimi

Rolling out the dough with Mimi

Noah wanted to join the fun with Sam & Mimi!

First Hanukkah as a Family of 4!

Noah loves pulling Uncle D's hair during our Hanukkah celebration

Uncle D gave Noah a fun new stuffed animal!

Jenn helping Sam unwrap gifts - check out the awesome new Hanukkah wall-hanger to help us count the days of Hanukkah!

Noah likes his new Jack In The Box, but he prefers to play with the tissue paper more

Sam said WOW!!! Train table from Mimi & Pa!

Sam made a special hat for Mimi at the synagogue Hanukkah party

Pa gave Noah his first bite of latkes

Silly Rabbi!!!

Moon bounce ended = Sam jumps on Pa!

Singing songs and stories with Rabbi Aft

Enjoying his new train table

Noah's first night of his first Hanukkah!

Second night of Hanukkah at the Papkins' Hanukkah party - Sam Geller-Cheney helping Sam Papkin light the menorah

Lighting the 3rd night with Pa

More fun with Uncle D

Fourth night with buddies Brooke & Brayden.  It is dreidle time!

Geller-Cheney family photo!

6th night of Hanukkah in Boston with the Dame-Cheney families

Noah with Aunt Suriyah

7th night of Hanukkah

Brad lighting the candles with Sam in Boston - last night of Hanukkah

Sam's homemade menorah = delicious!

Sam LOVES the train menorah that Mimi & Pa bought for him in Israel

 This year Sam learned to open the chocolate gelt (gold coins) before eating the chocolate inside.  Last year he was a bit over-eager and ate the gold foil too.  Sam learned most of the words to the Hanukkah prayers and enjoyed the rituals associated with the holiday -- and the train table too.

Hope that you all had a wonderful Hanukkah too!

Top 10 Tips for Momtrpeneurs and Small Business Owners

Salt and Nectar, a nationally renowned blog recently featured in USA today, asked me to write a guest blog post about tips for Momtrepreneurs and small business owners. My post is also sponsored by Google Chrome.

I welcome your feedback! What other tips would you include on this list? Anything you disagree with? Do you find any to be particularly helpful?

The blog post is

http://saltandnectar.squarespace.com/theblog/2011/12/29/sponsored-post-10-tips-for-momtrepreneurs-to-succeed.html

Happy reading!

Noah at 8 months - happily playing and laughing!

I'm a little bit behind but I wanted to update the blog about Noah's 8th month.  He is a very happy boy who loves to laugh, play and explore.  He is waving goodbye to everyone and loves to clap his hands during music class and the many songs that we sing at home.  Noah enjoys tapping objects together and talking up a storm.  He identifies me as mama and says it with meaning only me.  He is experimenting with many sounds - baba, dada, nana, yaya, oooh, eeeh, etc.

We love spending time outside when the weather permits.  Noah is not fully crawling yet, but scooting and can move across the room to get a toy that he wants. 

He is able to move from sitting to crawling position and then back into sitting position quite proficiently!

He loved the trains at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens at Thanksgiving time with Mimi & Pa

Sam & Noah watching the huge train sets! 

Sam & Noah love taking turns "flying" in the air

Sweet snuggle time on the blanket outside

More flying

Sam pulled Noah in the wagon that I played with when I was their age (many moons ago) 

Noah happily plays with whatever toys big brother Sam brings him - they both thought it was hilarious to play with the laundry basket that Sam put in the crib. 

We are starting to introduce more table food to Noah, he is VERY interested in what he is eating.  Here Noah is trying to grab the cake Brad is eating at a birthday party for one of Sam's friends. 

Playing vs. eating the tambourine during music class.  He mouths everything and has 4 teeth pushing through, 2 on top and 2 on the bottom.  

Sam & Noah playing hide and seek under the chairs at a synagogue event. 

He scooted backwards to the 1 step between our kitchen and family room and very proudly perched there halfway between the two levels.  He was very pleased with his accomplishment. 

Learning to stack the rings!

We try to go outside every day, even when it is cold!  Beautiful sweater and hat that Great Aunt Carol Wyatt made when Sam was a baby.  

Exploring more table food - Mimi introduces an apple to Noah,  he LOVED it! 

Noah continues to be a wonderful sleeper, usually sleeping about 11-12 hours/night and taking a 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon - usually when Sam naps too which is a very nice break for mommy!  The big challenge this month was Noah's first major illness.  On November 13, Noah began to show signs of respiratory distress from a virus.  Because it was a Sunday, our doctor's office was closed but thankfully our wonderful neighbor (and my best friend from high school BBYO!) is a pediatrician and agreed to listen to him.  She confirmed my suspicion that he was indeed having some breathing challenges and needed to go to the ER.  It was pretty upsetting to take a 8 month old baby to the ER, especially given our previous respiratory issues with Sam (who has been hospitalized twice for respiratory viruses).  

Fairfax inova hospital is a wonderful children's hospital and we received terrific care.  Noah was diagnosed with RSV and we were sent home with breathing treatments and medication.  He got much better and then got another virus and had double ear infections!  Poor little guy has had a rough few weeks, but his personality remains happy and smiley! The ER doctor told me that he should be a baby model because he was so cheerful and sweet despite the illness!  

He has recovered and continues to explore everything around him.  He loves to coo and talk to people, laugh at pretty much everything, and adores Sam.  Most recently he found cutting his fingernails to be hilarious and cracked up laughing when I tried to pull a sweater over his head - apparently this was very very funny.  He makes us laugh constantly and is such a sweet, easygoing baby.  

Thank you for all of your support during his health challenges and the hospital visit in November.  It was a scary experience, but the outpour of love and support from our friends and family made such a difference.  We really appreciate it!  

New Year, New Career, New Business

I am delighted to share that I have officially launched a new career and a new business!  Silverbrook Solutions LLC is a consulting company focused on small business development.  We are a one stop shop for all of your business needs. 

Please visit our website at www.silverbrooksolutions.com or follow our blog at silverbrooksolutions.wordpress.com.  Other social media platforms will be rolled out over the coming months. 

Silverbrook Solutions provides high quality and personal service for successful businesses, organizations, and associations. We specialize in everything you need to succeed. Your success is our business.

Whether you are starting a new business, bringing-in expertise to outsource a project, or looking to grow your organization in new directions, Silverbrook Solutions will answer your greatest business challenges.  We offer a free consultation to all new clients.  Please contact us at Rebecca@silverbrooksolutions.com to schedule your free consultation!

  

ABOUT US

Silverbrook Solutions is a team of highly trained professionals committed to helping your business succeed and thrive.  I oversee a cadre of skilled specialists who offer quality services such as accounting, website and logo design, public relations, communications, social media strategy and monitoring, legal assistance, business development, Quickbooks training, online advertising, marketing, and lead generation.

Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to your business.  Or do you know someone who has a small business? Referrals are greatly appreciated! 

Sam's first time ice skating

Brave daddy took Sam ice skating for the first time today! Sam was so excited and did really well (especially considering the fact that he is only 2.5!)

He held Brad's hand and they glided along together beautifully! What a fun adventure and i am so proud of Sam!